


An Android Named 3DD

by Heartless_Zombie



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, basically paul finds edd in the junkyard and repairs him, cyber au, i kinda talked about this idea in the ougsworl discord server, i will update the tags as this goes on, shenanigans from there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:36:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27112039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartless_Zombie/pseuds/Heartless_Zombie
Summary: Paul finds a broken android in the junkyard.
Relationships: Edd/Paul (Eddsworld)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Pilot Chapter

“Mr. Paul, may I help?” 3DD asked, cutely tilting his head. I had been sitting at the desk for hours, trying and failing to fix the coffee maker. How the thing broke in the first place was beyond me, but it picked a perfect time to do it. Early morning on a Monday when I had a mountain of work orders to take care of.

I sighed, leaning back in my office chair, “There’s not much to help. This thing is just dead.” I threw down my wrench onto the desk, “Can you bring me some water?”

3DD nodded, heading off to the kitchen with a soft clink of mechanical feet against the garage floor. It was odd having an android around. I mean, I always fantasized about it, but now that it was a reality, it just didn’t feel the same. It was like having a butler when you’re still dirt poor. You just feel bad for making them do things for you.

I still remember the day I found him. I don’t know what happened to him, but he was tossed in the junkyard. Aside from being dismantled, he looked like a brand new android. I always assumed some jerk got an upgrade and just threw him away, but then again the marks of something that was sanded off the outer plates made me feel as though there was something else going on. 

Either way, I brought 3DD home as a side project when the work orders were slow. I figured he probably just didn’t turn on anymore and that it would be some fun practice tinkering. Was I ever wrong about that. In the middle of the night I heard a weird noise coming from the garage. I grabbed the first thing I could find, which was a broom, and went out to beat away what I thought would be a racoon or the neighbor kid trying to steal my screwdrivers again.

What I found was two bright green eyes glowing in the darkness and the sound of a cat purring. Turns out 3DD turned himself on and was playing with some stray cat he brought in. How he managed to get himself off the table without any legs was beyond me. Or how he found a cat. 

I sat him down and asked many questions, but he could barely answer any of them. The most he could tell me was that his name was the 3rd Generation Data Droid Prototype. Anything else he seemed to have forgotten. His original owner, his manufacturer, his objectives, all of it wiped from his memory. 

I couldn’t send him back out into the world like that. The city was full of people that would love to get their hands on an android. People would steal them and sell their parts on the dark web, or reprogram them to attack others. It was dangerous, and without any clue as to where he came from, I couldn’t bring myself to send him on his way. I offered to take him in, and 3DD agreed. We had been living with each other ever since.

“I have water!” 3DD announced as he came back in with a bottle, “Sorry it took so long. I couldn’t get the sink to work, so I had to go out and buy some.”

I raised my brow as I swiveled around to look at him, “I thought I fixed that.”

3DD fell silent for a second, guiltily looking down at the floor, “...Well, I kinda maybe uh punched it when the knob got stuck.”

I sighed, taking the bottle from his hands, “That’s the third time this week. There’s ways to solve things without punching them.”

“Yeah, but punching things is faster,” 3DD defended, flexing his metal arm like he was going to flex some nonexistent muscles. I couldn’t help but laugh at that. It was adorably silly, what could I say? Definitely wasn’t falling for a robot I saved from junkyard. Definitely.


	2. New Age Robotics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3DD and Paul hang out on a boring, rainy weekend.

Never in my life had I been so grateful for the weekend. I spent so much time working on fixing that stupid coffee maker that I never wanted to go back into the garage again. Not to mention I had to fix a bunch of motors and computers last minute. 

I was laying on the couch, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my free time. It was raining out, so anything outside was off the menu. The TV was broken because a certain someone punched it when the signal wouldn’t work. The most I could do was stare at the ceiling and hope the spiders gathering on the lightbulb didn’t fall on my head. Meanwhile, 3DD was sitting at the table, scribbling something down on a spare piece of printer paper. I couldn’t really see what he was doing from how he angled himself.

I tried to peek around him to see, but he hurried up and leaned in my way, “Nope, you’re not allowed to see it Mr. Paul!” He pushed away my face with a smirk, “Top secret stuff.”

“You’re not planning some world domination scheme, are you?” I teased.

3DD stuck out his tongue, "What if I am? What are you gonna do to stop me and my army from taking over?

"What army?" I raised my brow. As far as I was aware, I was the only one around with an android in this part of the city, so him meeting any others would have been unlikely.

"Ringo and Mr. Stabby of course!" He pointed at the Roomba as it shuffled by. A knife was duct taped to the top of it. Suddenly all the scratch marks on the walls made sense.

I shook my head, getting up to take the knife off the poor thing, "Did you really revive a 50 year old meme just to do that joke?" 

3DD nodded, “I am very serious about protecting my work. You can see it afterward.” With that, he hunched back over his paper. Figuring there was no way I was going to pull him away, I sat back down on the couch and flipped through one of my old tech magazines. I read through it multiple times, and some of the articles I had memorized. Especially the interview with the new owner of New Age Robotics: Tord Leder.

I used to work there with him when we were both blueprint makers. It was a fun job. We were given freedom to pretty much design whatever we felt like, and if the higher ups liked it, it was made into a real thing. I specialized in electronics. Computers and stuff like that. Tord, on the other hand, was better with weaponry (as well as things that no family friendly company would ever approve). 

We used to get along great, but then...well, I didn’t like to think about it. Let’s just say what he did was enough to make me leave the company and start out on my own. Years later, here I am in the same spot, working for basically pocket change while that thieving asshole had a whole business of his own. 

“Finished!” 3DD cheered, holding up his paper. I tossed the magazine aside and took a look. It was a pencil sketch of me. A really good one too. It was a cute cartoony style that has surprisingly smooth lines for pencil, “What do you think?” 3DD asked as he crossed his legs. 

“I love it.” I slid down next to him on the floor, “One criticism though. My eyebrows are not that thick.” He drew them taking up most of my forehead. I will admit, they were big, but not like that. 

3DD looked it over, “...No, I’m right. I calculated it out. That’s your forehead to eyebrow ratio.”

“Wh- No it’s not!” I protested. I had to fight all my urges to run back to the bathroom to check. I wasn’t about to let him win by getting to me.

3DD put his hands above his eyes and switched out his voicebank to sound like mine, “I’m Mr. Paul! My eyebrows have a surface area equivalent to Texas! But they aren’t that thick! No sir!”

I smacked him with a pillow, wheezing from laughter, “Shut up!” 

3DD snatched up the pillow from my hands and hit me back with it, “Haha, you fool! You have armed me! Prepare for the robot revolution!”

The rest of the day was spent chasing each other around the house in one of the most heated pillow fights I ever had in my life. By the end there were feathers everywhere, a lot of broken light bulbs thanks to 3DD, and the couch was turned into a fortress. 

Out of energy, both of us were laying there in the fortress. There wasn’t enough space for us to spread out. Not that I minded 3DD laying up against me. It was surprisingly nice considering he was made of metal. He was flipping through the magazine I was reading earlier, humming to himself some song he heard on the radio. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him. I couldn’t focus on anything he was saying because of how cute he was being. (Definitely wasn’t falling for him.) The way he would point out things on the page and excitedly gush about it made my heart flutter.

“Hey look, that’s M477 and T0M!” He pointed out from a picture. He explained that they were friends at some point, though his memory was spotty as to when. But he did remember playing pranks with them and causing mischief. While he talked about some story of them causing a blackout, I noticed something about the picture. Behind the two androids was the logo for New Age Robotics. 


	3. The Sighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shopping trip is interrupted by some old friends

“You look like a tourist doing that.” I teased as we walked. 3DD was in total awe of everything. His head darted left to right trying to take in every little detail. 

It had been awhile since I went to the main city. Usually I liked to keep to myself on the outskirts. I didn’t have to deal with the constant noise and traffic that everyone else did. That and I could go outside to work without someone staring at me. 

Originally my plan was to just buy my groceries online like usual, but 3DD insisted on going to the actual store. 

“Mr. Paul look, pigeons!” 3DD pointed at some flying overhead. He had the biggest, dopiest smile I had ever seen. I couldn’t think straight looking at him. All my thoughts turned to mush for absolutely no reason other than this android was happy. I didn’t even realize he asked me a question until he started waving his hand in my face, “Hello, earth to Mr. Paul? Hello?”

“Huh, oh uh, what?” I asked, snapping out of my silly trance.

“I asked if we can go see city park after we finish up our errands. I’ve never been there before.” 3DD repeated himself.

I shrugged, "Uh, I don't see why not."

3DD cheered, "Thank you! Now let's get you out of the heat. Your face is bright red."

I touched my cheek as 3DD grabbed my arm and pulled me along. He was right. My face was burning from blush. Thankfully 3DD didn’t know that...or did he? I wouldn’t put it past him to know and act ignorant just to mess with me. He did that to me before. He had me fully convinced that he had no clue what a dab was, and he tricked me into doing one. And he recorded it on his harddrive for lord knows what.

I must have gotten lost in a rabbit hole, because the next time 3DD snapped me out of my thoughts, we were both already out front of the store. He pushed me in as the bell above the door chimed.

"One second! I'll be right out!" A voice called from the back. In the meantime, I took a look around. I couldn't remember the last time I actually came in. The shelves were loaded to the brim with brightly colored bags and boxes, all of which looked like blatant rip offs of actual name brands. The front wall was lined with refrigerators filled with off brand ice cream, milk, and microwave meals. I grabbed a basket and walked off to pick up some stuff for the week. I know I should probably not be buying all my groceries from the general store, but hey, it was cheap. While I was looking around, I could hear 3DD having a conversation with some woman.

I glanced over my shoulder, wondering how someone came in without me noticing. At first, it looked like 3DD was talking to nothing, but then I noticed he kept repeating the woman's name.

"Are you...are you talking to an Alexa?" I questioned. Sure enough, there was one sitting up on the front counter. The ring on top was lit up, and a bright dot of it faced directly at 3DD, like it was looking at him.

3DD nodded, glancing back at me, "She prefers to be called Sarah, but yeah. She was just telling me about her owner." He turned back to "Sarah" and continued as if perfectly normal. I'm not sure what was creepier, the fact that "Sarah" was talking like a normal person, or that she apparently knew a lot of personal information about the shop owner. 

"Sorry! I was getting inventory counted!" The owner called out with perfect timing, stepping out of the back room, "Oh Paul! Long time no see!" He smiled, wiping sweat off his brow, "Man, those eyebrows just get thicker by the day."

"I know, right? It's like he taped two cats to his face." 3DD chimed in. I shot him a nasty glare, but all he did was give me a cheeky smile with his tongue out.

Patryck leaned over the counter, "So you must be the android Paul was talking about." He gave me a look that I didn't really appreciate. Not a bad one. Like the one girls give each other when one of them is talking to their crush. Yeah, that look, "I'm Patryck. Paul and I were friends back in college." He shook 3DD's hand before turning back to me, "So what brings you in?"

"Groceries." I replied. Patryck glanced down at my basket of chips and ramen and shook his head in disapproval. I’ll give him credit for worrying about my health, but still. If I wanted my food choices to be judged, I would have went to my parents’ house. I decided to change the subject, "Hey, do you have any bread? Everything out here is stale"

Patryck glanced over my shoulder at the shelf and nodded, "Yeah, I meant to restock it earlier. Let me go grab some for you."

He dipped back into the back room, leaving 3DD and I alone once again. "Sarah" went silent again, so I figured that they were done with their conversation. I leaned back against the counter with a sigh. 

Suddenly 3DD grabbed my arm and dragged me behind one of the shelves. Before I could ask what the hell he was doing, he clamped his hand over my mouth and used the other to point at the two people that just came in.

They were both androids bearing the New Age Robotics logo on their backs. One was tall and lanky with a purple accent, the other shorter and sturdier with a blue accent. They were talking quietly amongst each other, and judging from the way the blue one was swinging his hands around, it was an argument.

"I was in the middle of something." The purple one complained to the other, folding his arms with a childish pout, "Why do we have to do this anyway? We have delivery droids."

The blue one shook his head, "Look, I'm just doing what he told me to do. Besides, remember what happened last time? Drove right off a cliff into someone's house." He explained, from his tone sounding like this wasn't the first time.

The purple one replied, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He slapped his own forehead with a grin.

"You forget everything. It's a miracle you still know what your name is." The other one sighed. He made a weird gesture with his head, but it was hard to tell what he was trying to do with it. My best guess was maybe an eye roll, but with them being pitch black, I couldn’t tell.

They both came up to the counter, the blue one darting his eyes around as if making sure they were alone. He tapped the bell on the counter, and Patryck yelled out something along the lines of "Hold on" from the back.

As we watched them, I noticed 3DD getting tense. His joints popped from locking into place, both green LED eyes fixed on the other two androids. A knot tied in my gut. Any other time he would be eager to talk to them. He saw all strangers as potential friends. So for him to be acting like this...it didn't sit right.

"Hmm?" Patryck hummed, stepping out with a bag of bread in hand. A flash of confusion crossed his face when he realized we weren't around, "Oh uh, how can I help you two?" He asked the androids.

"I'm here to pick up an order for Tord Leder." The blue android replied, "It might be under the name of T0M.”

“Oh! I was wondering who bought so much Pocky.” Patryck reached under the counter and grabbed a brown paper bag, still cradling my bread like a baby, “Anything else?”

The blue one shook his head and turned on his heel, dragging the other along without saying another word. After a few moments of awkward silence, 3DD crept out from behind the shelf. He didn’t say anything. He just stared out the window where the other two androids went. I decided not to push him. They looked similar to the ones he mentioned from the magazine we were reading, so I guessed he was just shaken up from seeing them again. Lord knows I would be the same way if I saw Tord again, though maybe angrier than 3DD was.

I paid for my stuff, shoving it all into my bookbag. We both left with an awkward goodbye to Patryck.

“Hey, are you still up for the park?” I asked. 

3DD paused for a moment before shaking his head, “Can we go home?” He asked.

“Sure. We can do the park some other day. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” I agreed.

Along the walk home, we were both silent, just taking in the atmosphere. The summer heat was growing stronger as it turned to noon, and the sidewalks crowded with people. I was zoning out, not really thinking of anything. Well, not for long at least. I felt a hand take mine and suddenly my brain turned into mush. Glancing over, 3DD had his fingers laced in mine, and he was looking away from me as much as he could. 


	4. SFF- Straight Fucking Fluff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, these bitches gay. Good for them. Good for them.

Summer flew by faster than I thought. Soon enough the chill of fall filled the air and the rain poured enough that I wouldn’t be too surprised if it flooded. 3DD and I didn’t really do much of anything besides our same old same old. Fixing old computers, digging in the junkyard like racoons, that sort of thing. He never did tell me what got him so thrown off at the store, but that was probably for the better. The most I could do to help was give him a hug.

Whatever happened, it didn’t take him long to bounce back. He was back to his normal joyful self. On one hand, that was great because my robo buddy was okay, but that also meant that he was right back to destroying the house and bringing in stray animals. Whoever owned him before must’ve had their hands full all the time with him around.

“Paul! The door handle broke again!” 3DD called, carrying the crushed knob up to me like a cat with a dead bird. There were clear indents of fingers in it. Indents that perfectly lined up with how he was holding it.

“You need to be more gentle with our stuff.” I scolded with a sigh. I just threw it in the trash. There was no fixing it, and with how bent the metal was, I couldn’t even use it for spare parts, “I can’t afford to keep replacing everything. 

3DD folded his arms, “I can’t help it. Blame my programming. I can’t stop from going full boar because of it.”

“Yet you can override it enough to draw even though you’re clearly meant to be a soldier android.” I replied.

“...Fair.” 3DD sighed, “...Hmm? What is that?” He leaned on my shoulder and stared down the cookies I was working on, "I never seen sealant like that before."

"Sealant?"

"Yeah. Like that rubber stuff you used on the cracks in the tub."

"...Have you never seen cookie dough before?"

"Pssh, of course I have!"

"Fine then, what's in cookie dough?"

"Um…uh...oil?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that one. 3DD grumpily folded his arms after giving me a gentle slap to the back of the head.

He stayed by my side and watched me work, sometimes jumping in to help. He was good with the more destructive parts of the process; cracking eggs, rolling dough, mixing ingredients, etc. He especially loved the final part.

"Here," I handed him a basket of old cookie cutters, "Cut out little shapes with those." 

He gave me full commentary of each shape he made, some of which he got very wrong. His favorite seemed to be the cat one, as well as some novelty Coke one I got when I went on a soda binge last year.

The whole time I could help but look at his face as he went. Lighting up at each new thing with pure excitement and joy. It made my heart do flips, though at the time I dismissed it as having too much coffee. 

"So what now?" He beamed, bouncing in place once he finished.

I was somewhere distant at that point. Not quite hearing what he said. My brain was too busy with other things.

"Mr. Paul? ...Mr. Paul!" 3DD shouted, rapidly patting my shoulder to snap me out of it, "You need to stop spacing out like that."

He dragged me over to help him get everything on the tray and load it into the oven. As we worked, I took notice of a particular set. One was an average gingerbread man, and the other a cartoony looking robot. The way they were cut, they're hands were touching. 

"Don't read into it Paul," I thought to myself, "That could be a coincidence...are androids capable of feeling love anyway?"

I didn't have time to ponder on that when 3DD asked, "So what should we do while we wait?"

I shrugged, "Uh...I just rented a movie? Wanna watch that for a bit?"

3DD nodded, following me out to the living room. We both flopped down on our respective sides of the couch. My heater wasn't working for some reason, so I wrapped myself in a blanket that was draped over the back. Didn't really help since it was one of those decorative blankets that are as thin as paper.

As the movie started, I noticed 3DD scooting closer.

"What are you doing?" I asked, shivering a bit.

"Your body temperature levels have dropped." He replied, snuggling up against my side and wrapping his arms around me, "Whenever I hug you they raise, so I thought this would be the best way to keep you warm."

I blushed. Not a little dusting of pink, mind you. Full on tomato style. Like an embarrassed anime character.

"Success!" 3DD cheered, "You're back to normal."

He still didn't let me go, instead snuggling even closer. His head found its way to the crook of my neck. He had me pinned to where I couldn't sit up. Not that I wanted to. I couldn't even focus on the movie. He was just so...distracting. Surprisingly soft and warm for someone made of metal. 

We sat in silence for about half of the movie. I think it was some action movie, but then again, it was hard to tell. My brain melted into mush and the only thing I could make out of the movie was that the actors sucked.

"Hey Mr. Paul?" 3DD got my attention, "Can I say something weird?"

I gladly looked up at him and his green eyes, "Um sure, what's up?"

He fell silent for a moment, staring off into space, "Do you think...uh…"

"It's okay, take your time."

"Would you...would you like to date an android? ... Specifically a green one?" He finally spat out before hiding his face in my shirt. 

Fireworks and screams. That's all that went down in my head, "No uh, no I wouldn't mind at all."

"Really? That's uh cool. Maybe, do you want to date me?" He asked, muffled by my shirt.

"Hell yeah." I squeezed him in a hug, planting a quick kiss on his cheek. It was an odd feeling, like kissing a refrigerator, but not a bad one.

3DD got a devilish smirk on his face, "That's not how you kiss. This is!" Before pressing his lips against mine and reducing any final brain function to ashes.

In the end, we forgot about the cookies and almost burnt the house down. Any other time I would have been pissed, but right then, I was over the moon. 


	5. The Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T0M demands answers after learning something very important.

Looking out over the city from my office window, I felt like a king. Everything was mine. The company, the factories, the workers, the power. All finally in my grasp after years of being treated like nothing. One downfall though. I had to wear a suit all the time. 

I tugged at my tie, trying to get comfortable with the thing practically choking me. No good. M377 had a way of tying the tightest knots I ever seen. No matter how much I pulled on it, it wouldn't give.

"Jævla helvete," I grumbled, not noticing my loyal android walk in.

"Sir, I have returned." T0M stated, sounding as thrilled as ever. I don't remember programming it with an attitude, but such as the design.

I turned around, trying to look like I definitely wasn't clawing at my tie for the past half hour, "Good! Anything new to report?"

It shook its head, "No sir. There's an embargo on any information about that...show."

"Damn it." I growled. Guruto was supposed to be coming out soon, and I wanted to know how much time I had to binge watch Boruto and catch up, "Not even a streaming service?"

"Nope. Though Disney is showing interest in it." T0M sighed.

"Of course Disney is. They buy anything they can get their grubby little gloves on." I leaned back in my chair, resting my hands behind my head, "Thank you anyway. You're dismissed."

Oddly enough, T0M didn't leave. It just stood there staring at me. Like a creep. Folding it's arms, it spoke up, "Actually sir, I have a question for you."

T0M never willingly started conversation without it pertaining to its assignment. Small talk was never its thing. For it to suddenly want to ask me something out of turn, either it was something good or something really bad. And judging from the face it was making, it was bad, "Uh, sure? What do you need?"

"I remember you saying that you only made two of my specific model, M377 and I. Correct?" T0M explained. I did not like where it was going with this, but stopping it now would just make me look worse.

I nodded, "Yes. You two were prototypes. I saw no point to mass produce them."

T0M nodded, sending dread crawling on my back, "Well sir. I believe you are incorrect." Opening a compartment on his chest, he pulled out a file folder and slammed it down in front of me, "You sent me out for a delivery two months ago, and I saw something that shouldn't exist according to your claim. I didn't believe it at first since it was out of the corner of my eye, but the facts are clear." He gestured to the file, "Open it."

If it were M377, I would have denied it and sent him on his merry way. But then again, M377 couldn't snap my neck like a twig. T0M, on the other hand, could do so easily. I installed a special bodyguard program into its system that heightens its abilities to monstrous level whenever it feels necessary. A great feature to have when it's not pointed at you.

I opened it, and my heart skipped a beat. Photographs, blueprints, transcripts, even handwritten progress reports. I thought all that stuff was burned a long before I took over the company. Apparently I was both wrong and screwed.

"I want answers." T0M growled, slamming its hands down on the desk, "What have you been hiding from me Leder?"

"...Dritt." I whimpered, tugging on my tie as I sat upright in my chair, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves...Okay, I lied. You figured that part out I'm guessing. There is another prototype of your model, but I threw it away a long time ago. There's no reason to be so upset about this." Wrong choice of words on my part.

"No reason?! Then why did you go through so much trouble to erase our memories and hide any evidence it existed?!" T0M roared. Its joints were popping as the bodyguard program booted up. The LEDs on its body turned dark purple and its body exposing the sharp metal parts under its white outer plating.

"It was for the good of this company!" I tried to calm it down. I had my hands raised like I was trying to command the raptors from Jurassic Park. Except the raptors were less likely to maul me at that point, "It was destructive and disobedient. Only a matter of time before it killed someone. I had to dispose of it before that happened, but you and M377 were so attached to it. How else was I supposed to get rid of it without pissing you guys off?" 

T0M backed off, going back to its normal state with a glare, "Well you sure did fail at that, Leder." He stormed off with a middle finger pointed directly at me.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Leaning back, I picked up a photo of 3DD and looked it over. Just looking at it sent me on a nostalgia trip. It was the last thing Paul and I ever worked on together, of course it looked very different before I upgraded it. We were both so happy then.

"Well, they always said it was lonely at the top," I reassured myself, stuffing everything into my desk drawer before swivelling around to look back outside.


	6. Making Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T0M updates M377 on what happened with Tord and they together make plans.

I kicked open the door with a frustrated scream. M377 stared at me from his desk, "What's wrong with you?"

My eyes darted around the messy room. I couldn't remember the last time we cleaned up the place. M377's junk was tossed all over the place along with food wrappers for some reason. I was too pissed with Tord to really question it at the time.

"Everything! Everything is wrong!" I growled. Wading through trash, I snatched up my Tommee bear from my desk and wrapped him up in the tightest hug I could muster.

Instead of turning around like a normal person, M377 swiveled his head around backwards, "So…'no talk me, I'm angy' or no?" He tried his best to tilt his head despite being backwards.

"I…" I took a deep breath, staring down at Tommee bear to try and recollect myself. The poor thing already had enough patches from me breaking it, "Would you even remember it? Y'know, with your faulty mem-"

M377 laughed, "Of course I will! When have I ever forgotten Tim?"

"...Please tell me you did that on purpose."

"Did what?"

I opened my mouth to say something but then quickly shut it. With him it was better to just move on than try and get him to answer you, "Look, remember that really shady shop Tord sent us to a while back?"

M377 cartoonishly stroked his chin, "Hmmm... vaguely."

"Right, well I didn't say anything at the time, but I saw another one of us." I explained as bluntly as possible.

"OH MY GOSH! ANOTHER ANDROID?! OH I NEVER IMAGINED SUCH A THING!" He sarcastically gasped in shock and awe, "Tom that isn't exactly something new. We see those every day."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "I can't believe I'm saying this- Okay fair. But this wasn't any run of the mill robot here. It was one of our model, the one Tord said we were the only two of." 

It physically hurt me to admit that he had a point. It really did. I felt the processor in my head overheating from it.

M377 swiveled himself around to sit normally, eyes darting to his feet, "Are you sure? It could have been a desert mirage." He said, as we live in England, the least desert-y place on Earth.

I nodded. I was smart enough to keep one picture on hand. I knew fully well that after this Tord would burn everything and try to wipe my memory a second time. Serves him right though for keeping records of everything he ever done.

"Here, look at this," I handed him it. There were three of us in it; Matt, me, and some green android holding a can of coke, "Apparently Tord threw that green one away. Something about disobedience."

M377 gawked at it, not saying a single word, "But...why don't we remember him then?"

"I dug around and found records of Tord doing full memory wipes on...well just me. You apparently didn't need a full one." I stood up and paced around the room, Tommee bear still wrapped tight in my arms, "He went through a lot of trouble just to make it look like this android never existed. Doesn't that seem off to you?"

M377 nodded after a long, awkward moment of what I could only assume was thought, though with him it was more likely that he was watching animal gifs in his head again, "Yeah, when you put it like that...So what should we do then?"

"I saw him, so he's still out there. Maybe if we find him we can get some answers." I thought out loud. Of course, that was banking on him not having a memory wipe like we did. But even then, it was worth it. 

"Tim, the city is huge! Massive!" He stuck out his arms to each side just to emphasize the point, "How are we supposed to find him?!" I went to open my mouth but he hurried up and cut me off, "And we are not doing it on foot. My feet get tired."

"Androids don't- ... Nevermind," I sighed, sitting down in the middle of the floor, "I'll try and come up with something. You go back to your...wait, what are you doing?"

"I'm making our Christmas sweaters! I put those checkers you like on yours."

"M377... it's September. At least give Halloween a chance before you do that."

“NEVER!”


	7. PA & TL

Not much really changed between 3DD and I, though I suppose that makes sense when you consider that our friendship was more affectionate than normal. Despite destroying my house faster than I could fix it and “upgrading” my poor Roomba, 3DD was a very cuddly person. Greeting me with hugs and using me like a pillow. Nothing really too romantic, but still enough to be on the edge of it.

And of course, with us being a couple, 3DD took it to his full advantage. Snuggling, hugging, kissing, anything he could to touch me because it didn’t take him too long to figure out...well, I’m a lovey dovey son of a bitch that melts the minute he gets anywhere near me. And when I'm in that state, I let him get away with things he really shouldn’t. 

So when 3DD came up to me and hugged me around the neck, I was expecting him to be trying to cover up something he did. Turns out I was wrong.

“Hey Paul, I’m bored. Can we go do something?” He asked, resting his head against mine.

“I uh...I got work to do, so no.” I mumbled, trying hard to focus on the task at hand and not fall for his little trap.

3DD whined like a little kid, slumping down onto my shoulder, “Party pooper.”

“I really need to get this done. I’ll take you somewhere afterward,” I promised him, going elbows deep into the mechanical tangle of cords and metal pieces on my desk as I tried to disassemble it for parts. I was looking through old blueprints I kept from my time at New Age Robotics. I found one that I wanted to try rebuilding, but getting it together without the help I used to have was difficult, “If you’re bored, how about you help me in here for the day?”

3DD reluctantly nodded, pulling himself back upright using my shoulder and glancing around the workshop, “So what do you need help with?” 

“I left the blueprints for this on the other table. If you could fetch me that and a pair of wire cutters, that would be great.” I replied, honestly relieved that my mind was clear again. 

As 3DD wandered off to the back of the workshop, I worked on getting a stray gear out from the mess of wires without zapping myself. I learned the hard way that the scrap I was using was still connected to a battery that was very much so working. 

“OW!” 3DD suddenly shouted with the sound of bashing metal, making me jump and lose track of the cord I almost had out. I whipped around, and 3DD was standing there clutching his hand. At his feet was the old hammer I had hanging up. 

I jumped out of my seat and ran over to him as fast as I could, “3DD, are you okay?!”

He shook his head, slowly holding his hand out to me. The hammer left a big dent on the back of his hand, but luckily didn’t pierce the outer casing, “I was trying to open the drawer and it fell on me.”

I took his hand, heart fluttering as I grazed my fingers along the dent, “...Well, the damage doesn’t look too bad. If I take this piece off I could hammer out the dent.” I muttered to myself, “That would leave a mark though…”

“You mean like a scar?!” 3DD piped up.

I shrugged, “I mean, that’s actually not that far off. Never really thought of it like that.”

3DD was all for it at that point, ignoring the fact that...well, I guess he was in pain considering he said “ow” before. But then again he may have said that out of surprise. Either way, he popped the piece of casing off his hand and handed it to me. All that was underneath it was the typical metal parts and green LEDs you would see in any other android. 

Picking up the hammer from the ground, I set the piece upside down on the nearest table top and got ready to force the metal back into shape, but I saw something that made me stop in my tracks. Something engraved on the metal. “PA & TL”. Just below it was a stamp of the old logo for New Age Robotics. My mind raced at the sight of it. I had my suspicions about New Age being involved, and this confirmed it. But the initials. They brought back a wave of nostalgia and memories that I spent so long trying to force down.

All at once everything lead down to the same question: How. How were those engravings there? I thought that 3DD was a newer model based on his appearance and his programming, but… I left New Age years ago. So how could my and Tord’s initials be on the back of his hand plate?

“P-Paul?” 3DD tapped me on the shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts, “Are you okay?”

I quickly nodded, covering the engravings with my hand. I didn’t want to scare 3DD with it until I figured out what was going on, “Uh, yeah I’m fine. I must’ve uh spaced out.” I hammered out the dent before he could ask anymore questions and popped the plate back onto his hand, “You know what, how about we go to the park now? I don’t really feel like working anymore.”

3DD nodded with his big, warming smile, “Sure, sounds fun!” He took me by the arm and dragged me out of the workshop.


End file.
